m  - . ^ 


Oak  Street 
UNCLASSIFIED 

**  ..  ■  ’ i>!' ■ 

THE  Jtf\' 

PENNSYLVANIA  STATE 

•v  'L.j. 

COLLEGE  BULLETIN 

VOL.  XV 

November  1,  1921  No.  12 

INAUGURAL 

of 


John  Martin  Thomas 
President 


•  v‘\ 


The  Pennsylvania  State 
College  Bulletin  is  is¬ 
sued  monthly  by  The 
Pennsylvania  State  Col¬ 
lege. 


Entered  as  second-class 
mail  matter  February  7, 
1908,  at  the  Postofflce  at 
State  College,  Pennsyl¬ 
vania. 


The  Future  of 
The  Pennsylvania 
State  College 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 
by 


President  John  M.  Thomas 


October  14,  IQ2I 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2018  with  funding  from 

University  of  Illinois  Urbana-Champaign  Alternates 


https://archive.org/details/futureofpennsylv00thom_0 


INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 


ON  June  14,  1855,  in  the  City  of  Harrisburg, 
at  the  office  of  the  Pennsylvania  State  Agri¬ 
cultural  Society,  the  Governor  of  the  State,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  seven  other 
citizens  met  for  the  organization  of  a  new  type 
of  educational  institution  in  the  Commonwealth 
of  Pennsylvania.  Their  authority  was  an  act  of 
the  Legislature  approved  February  22,  1855,  con¬ 
stituting  them  trustees  of  “The  Farmers’  High 
School  of  Pennsylvania,”  “an  institution  for  the 
education  of  youth  in  the  various  branches  of 
science,  learning,  and  practical  agriculture,  as  they 
are  connected  with  each  other.”  Distinctions  be¬ 
tween  grades  of  schools  were  not  exact  in  1855,  and 
it  was  twenty  years  before  the  term  “High  School” 
came  to  be  applied  consistently  to  the  public  second¬ 
ary  schools.  The  school  Governor  Pollock  and  his 
associates  had  in  mind  was  an  institution  of  college 
or  university  rank.  Every  reference  in  public  ad¬ 
dress  or  private  letter  by  Frederick  Watts,  their 
spokesman  and  the  first  Chairman  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees,  is  to  an  institution  of  collegiate  grade. 
Doctor  Evan  Pugh,  the  first  President,  said  to  the 
students  in  his  inaugural  address,  “You  are  here  as 
members  of  the  first  Agricultural  College  which  has 
gone  into  successful  operation  in  the  United  States,” 
and  he  never  referred  to  the  institution  as  anything 
but  a  college.  But  the  term  “college”  was  avoided  in 
the  charter  in  order  that  there  might  be  no  confusion 
with  the  existing  type  of  literary  college,  and  no  mis¬ 
understanding  that  here  was  an  attempt  to  make  a 
new  start  in  the  educational  enterprises  of  the  nation. 

a  New  Type  The  college  was  to  be  of  a  new 

of  College  order  in  that  the  emphasis  was 

to  be  upon  science,  not  upon  letters.  There  was 


4 


Inaugural:  The  Future  of  The 


to  be  a  definite  abandonment  of  the  traditional  cur¬ 
riculum.  “The  object  of  the  Farmers’  High 
School,”  said  the  first  catalogue,  “is  to  afford  a  sys¬ 
tem  of  instruction  as  extensive  and  thorough  as  that 
of  the  usual  course  of  our  best  colleges;  but  to  differ 
from  the  latter  in  devoting  no  time  to  the  study  of 
the  ancient  languages,  and  in  devoting  a  correspond¬ 
ingly  large  time  to  scientific  instruction.”  It  is  diffi¬ 
cult  now  to  realize  how  revolutionary  that  statement 
was  in  1859.  It  was  the  announcement,  not  of  a  re¬ 
vised  curriculum,  but  of  a  new  genus  in  American 
educational  institutions. 

That  this  college  was  designed  to  be  a  new  order 
was  indicated  further  by  the  fact  that  it  was  to  be, 
not  an  instrument  of  general  literary  culture,  but 
frankly  vocational,  to  prepare  youth  as  definitely  and 
practically  as  possible  for  specific  callings,  and  in 
particular  for  the  occupation  of  a  farmer.  The  aim 
was  to  provide  for  the  more  ambitious  youth  a  col¬ 
lege  education  which  would  not  by  its  very  nature 
attract  them  away  from  the  farms  and  factories  and 
send  them  into  the  learned  professions,  but  which 
would  return  them,  or  at  least  some  of  them,  to  their 
homes  with  the  knowledge,  skill  and  character  to 
make  them  successful  in  the  occupations  pursued  by 
the  great  body  of  citizens.  This  was  a  new  purpose 
and  ambition  for  an  American  College,  and  it  was 
fully  recognized  that  the  institution  would  need  to 
be  organized  on  a  new  system  in  order  to  fulfill  its 
function. 

Underlying  Pur-  But  there  was  something  deeper  and 
pose  of  the  New  more  fundamental  in  the  minds  of 
College  the  projectors  of  the  Farmers’ 

High  School.  They  were  looking  toward  the 
extension  of  higher  education  to  a  new  class 
of  students,  and  the  inclusion  in  its  benefits  of 


Pennsylvania  State  College  5 

all  classes  and  conditions  of  men  in  the  great 
American  democracy,  especially  of  the  people 
on  the  farms  and  in  the  industries.  All  American 
colleges,  then  as  now,  were  theoretically  democratic, 
and  the  doors  of  all  were  generously  open  to  youth 
of  every  class  and  station.  But  the  youth  who  sought 
them  from  the  farms  and  from  the  homes  of  workers 
were  led  almost  inevitably  from  the  occupations  of 
their  fathers.  The  colleges  did  not  train  their  stu¬ 
dents  for  industrial  life,  and  business  and  the  indus¬ 
tries  did  not  feel  the  need  of  such  men  as  the  colleges 
then  trained.  The  result  was  that  industry,  agricul¬ 
tural  and  other,  was  without  educated  leadership 
and  was  losing  its  power  and  influence  in  the  politi¬ 
cal  and  social  life  of  the  Republic.  Democracy  was 
in  peril  because  dominance  in  affairs  was  tending 
to  pass  into  the  hands  of  the  learned  men  of  the  pro¬ 
fessions,  while  the  great  masses  of  men  of  business 
and  men  of  the  farms  and  industries  were  without 
the  ability  and  skill  to  bring  their  power  to  bear. 
“The  great  body  of  our  citizens,”  said  Frederick 
Watts,  “have  not  the  power  and  the  influence  which 
they  ought  to  have  for  the  proper  balance  of  power  in 
our  political  and  social  relations.  Something  must 
be  done  to  increase  their  power — how  shall  we  do 
it?” 

Now  note  the  answer:  “Education  will  impart  in¬ 
fluence,  but  it  must  be  such  education  as  will  lead  to 

the  desired  end . Here  is  our  want.  At  present 

we”  (i.  e.,  the  great  body  of  citizens)  “have  no  suit¬ 
able  college  in  existence . Now  the  institution 

we  are  striving  to  establish,  at  the  earliest  possible 
period,  is  intended  to  supply  this  great  social,  politi¬ 
cal,  moral  and  economical  want.” 

That  utterance  of  the  first  President  of  our  Board 
of  Trustees  made  July  2,  1857,  to  an  audience  of 


6 


Inaugural:  The  Future  of  The 


farmers  in  a  barn  on  this  campus  is  worthy  of  pres¬ 
ervation  in  the  history  of  American  education.  For 
the  foundation  of  this  college  was  part  of  a  wide¬ 
spread  movement  toward  scientific  and  industrial 
higher  education  in  the  middle  of  the  past  century, 
and  in  all  the  prophetic  utterances  which  stimulated 
that  educational  revolution  none  penetrates  more 
deeply  into  the  underlying  causes  of  it  than  those 
words  of  Frederick  Watts. 

The  New  Type  of  The  new  type  of  American  col- 
Coiiege  and  Amer-  lege  was  due  to  the  instinct  of 
ican  Democracy  self-preservation  in  American  de¬ 
mocracy.  It  was  the  effort  of  the  great  body 
of  citizens  to  maintain  their  place  and  power  in  so¬ 
cial  and  political  affairs.  The  pioneer  with  the  axe 
and  the  plow  had  won  for  the  nation  its  magnificent 
home.  He  had  penetrated  through  these  valleys, 
over  the  Alleghenies,  down  the  great  valley  of  the 
Ohio,  and  over  the  boundless  prairies  to  the  Rockies 
and  the  Pacific.  In  subduing  the  continent,  he  had 
wrought  the  national  character, — the  manhood  of  the 
frontier,  strong,  hardy,  independent,  resourceful, 
full  of  energy,  enthusiasm,  and  the  love  of  freedom, 
insistent  above  all  things  upon  absolute  equality  of 
all  men  in  right  and  privilege.  But  the  men  who  had 
conquered  the  forests  and  fought  the  savages  found 
themselves  unequal  in  councils  of  state  and  in  so¬ 
cial  privilege  to  the  men  of  the  cities  and  the  learned 
professions.  When  they  turned  to  educational  in¬ 
stitutions  for  the  knowledge  that  would  give  them 
power,  they  found  they  could  attain  skill  in  large  af¬ 
fairs  only  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  occupations  to  which 
they  had  given  their  life.  There  were  no  American 
colleges  to  match  the  chief  interests  and  occupations 
of  American  life.  The  schools  of  higher  learning 


Pennsylvania  State  College 


7 


which  had  been  scattered  carelessly  on  western  terri¬ 
tory  during  the  frontiersman’s  advance  across  the 
continent  were  utterly  inconsonant  with  the  life 
which  had  grown  up  about  them.  They  were  weak 
copies  of  seaboard  institutions,  which  in  turn  were 
replicas  of  the  aristocratic  universities  of  England 
and  which  had  changed  marvelously  little  in  studies, 
manners  and  purposes  from  their  European  models. 

For  the  saving  of  his  manhood  wrought  in  his  fight 
with  the  wilderness,  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
equality  in  right  and  privilege  earned  by  his  giant 
labors  and  granted  him  by  the  Constitution,  the 
American  began  the  erection  of  his  own  type  of  high¬ 
er  school.  The  movement  had  no  single  exponent 
who  adequately  symbolized  it,  and  its  story  must  be 
brought  together  from  scattered  sources.  But  wheth¬ 
er  in  Pennsylvania,  Michigan,  Ohio,  or  in  Illinois, 
where  for  twenty  years  Jonathan  B.  Turner  pled  the 
cause  before  agricultural  societies  and  teachers’  con¬ 
ventions,  the  fundamental  idea  was  the  same,— to 
provide  education  of  the  highest  grade  free  and  open 
to  all  classes,  for  the  children  of  the  farms  and  shops 
and  factories,  and  to  give  them  such  education  as 
would  not  remove  them  from  common  industry  and 
business,  not  even  the  business  of  the  farm,  and  there¬ 
by  to  raise  the  level  of  American  industrial  life  to  an 
equality  with  professional  life.  It  was  an  attempt  to 
realize  democracy,  to  make  good  the  doctrine  of  the 
Declaration  that  all  men  are  created  equal,  or  as 
Frederick  Watts  put  it,  to  increase  the  power  and 
influence  of  the  great  body  of  our  citizens. 

The  Morrill  Act  The  culmination  of  this  educational 
and  the  Land-  revolution  was  the  approval  by  Pres- 
Grant  Colleges  ident  Lincoln  Qn  July  2>  1862,  of  the 

act  sponsored  by  Senator  Morrill  of  Vermont,  which 


8 


Inaugural:  The  Future  of  The 

granted  lands  from  the  national  domain  for  the  en¬ 
dowment,  support,  and  maintenance  in  each  state, 
which  cared  to  accept  the  provisions  of  the  Act,  of  a 
college  that  would  realize  the  ambitions  then  stir¬ 
ring  in  the  masses  of  the  nation.  The  needs  of  the 
agricultural  and  industrial  classes  were  first  in  mind, 
and  it  was  prescribed  that  the  institutions  thus  cre¬ 
ated  by  joint  authority  of  the  federal  and  state  gov¬ 
ernments  should  be  colleges  where  “the  leading  ob¬ 
ject  should  be,  without  excluding  other  scientific  and 
classical  studies,  and  including  military  tactics,  to 
teach  such  branches  of  learning  as  are  related  to  ag¬ 
riculture  and  the  mechanic  arts.”  The  broad  pur¬ 
pose  to  democratize  higher  education,  to  provide  for 
the  ambitious  youth  of  all  classes  the  widest  and  most 
extensive  opportunities  and  advantages,  was  set  forth 
in  the  declaration  that  the  purpose  of  the  land-grant 
colleges  was  “to  promote  the  liberal  and  practical  ed¬ 
ucation  of  the  industrial  classes  in  the  several  pursuits 
and  professions  of  life.” 

The  Morrill  Act  and  the  designation  of  this  in¬ 
stitution  as  the  college  to  carry  out  its  purpose  in 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania  both  clarified  and  broad¬ 
ened  the  aims  and  objects  of  the  projectors  of  this  col¬ 
lege.  From  that  time  forward  the  goal  was  clear  and 
the  educational  aim  was  enlarged  to  include  a  thor¬ 
ough  education  of  college  grade  and  also  at  the  same 
time  a  practical  and  liberal  training  for  positions  of 
responsibility  in  any  of  the  industries  of  the  state. 
The  institution  took  its  place  as  one  of  the  land-grant 
colleges  of  America,  and  in  due  time  the  name  was 
changed  to  “The  Pennsylvania  State  College.” 

One  still  hears  occasionally  the  suggestion  that  a 
lang-grant  college,  and  this  college  in  particular, 
should  confine  itself  to  the  teaching  of  agriculture 
exclusively.  A  college  is  under  obligation  to  carry 


9 


Pennsylvania  State  College 

out  the  terms  of  its  charter,  and  the  charter  of  this 
college  includes  the  Act  of  the  Legislature  of  1863, 
accepting  the  grant  of  the  Morrill  Act  “with  all  its 
provisions  and  conditions,”  to  which  acceptance  the 
far-reaching  engagement  was  added,  “the  faith  of  the 
state  is  hereby  pledged  to  carry  the  same  into  effect.” 
Unquestionably  the  provisions  and  conditions  of  the 
federal  act  of  1862  cannot  be  carried  out  without  a 
strong  and  worthy  school  of  agriculture,  generously 
supported  and  directed  in  all  its  operations  toward 
the  promotion  of  all  agricultural  interests  of  the 
Commonwealth.  Loyally  and  with  utmost  sympathy 
with  the  endeavor  The  Pennsylvania  State  College 
throughout  its  history  has  recognized  and  discharged 
that  obligation  and  today  is  eager  to  perform  its  full 
duty  by  the  fundamental  industry  of  the  nation.  But 
just  as  clear  as  is  our  duty  to  teach  agriculture  is  our 
obligation  also,  in  this  mighty  industrial  state,  to 
teach  engineering  and  mining  and  natural  science 
and  the  liberal  arts.  In  Pennsylvania  we  cannot 
“promote  the  liberal  and  practical  education  of  the 
industrial  classes  in  the  several  pursuits  and  profes¬ 
sions  of  life”  without  regard  for  the  youth,  farmers’ 
sons  as  well  as  others,  who  wish  to  equip  themselves 
for  positions  of  responsibility  in  the  mines  and 
mills,  the  factories  and  schools,  the  transportation 
systems  and  commercial  enterprises  of  this  great 
state. 

Justin  Morrill  was  a  master  of  exact  language,  and 
if  he  had  intended  the  organization  of  farm  schools, 
devoted  solely  to  empirical  instruction  in  practical 
agriculture,  he  would  have  found  words  to  express 
his  purpose.  It  was  the  youth  of  the  industrial 
classes  whom  the  Vermont  storekeeper  and  son  of  a 
blacksmith  had  in  mind.  He  sought  to  provide  for 
them  a  liberal  education  as  well  as  a  practical  train- 


10 


Inaugural:  The  Future  of  The 


ing.  His  statute  forbade  the  exclusion  of  any  scien¬ 
tific  and  classical  studies  which  the  needs  of  aspir¬ 
ing  youth  required.  Behind  his  effort  was  a  mighty 
nation-wide  popular  .movement  as  was  indicated  by 
the  passage  of  the  Act  by  two  successive  congresses, 
the  second  time  by  an  increased  majority  in  both 
houses.  That  movement  was  the  endeavor  of  the  in¬ 
dustrial  classes,  especially  of  the  great  body  of  intel¬ 
ligent  American  farmers,  to  extend  free  popular  edu¬ 
cation  into  the  upper  grades,  and  to  make  that  edu¬ 
cation  both  broad  and  practical,  thoroughly  Ameri¬ 
can,  and  suited  to  the  people  for  whom  it  was  intend¬ 
ed.  It  was  not  a  movement  from  within  the 
schools  or  the  learned  circles;  its  sponsors  and  advo¬ 
cates  were  not  educational  leaders  or  professors  in 
existing'  institutions.  They  were  far-sighted  com¬ 
moners  from  the  rank  and  file,  and  the  whole  move¬ 
ment  was  the  press  upward  of  democracy  into  higher 
education. 

The  Pennsylvania  State  College  has  been  true  to 
its  charter  and  loyal  to  its  genius,  not  only  in  the  fur¬ 
therance  of  agriculture,  but  also  and  equally  in  the 
development  of  strong  schools  of  engineering,  natural 
science,  mining,  and  liberal  arts.  It  has  not  broad¬ 
ened  its  curriculum  more  than  was  necessary  and 
right  in  order  to  carry  out  the  specific  terms  of  the 
Acts  of  Congress  and  of  the  State  Legislature.  Its 
trustees  would  have  been  false  to  the  trust  reposed  in 
them  if  they  had  consented  to  a  more  restricted  edu¬ 
cational  program.  The  young  people  of  the  Com¬ 
monwealth  by  the  steady  increase  of  their  number 
who  have  sought  the  industrial  courses  have  set  their 
approval  upon  the  broad  opportunities  offered  them. 
No  work  of  the  public  institutions  of  the  nation  has 
been  more  in  the  spirit  of  the  movement  which 
founded  them  than  the  inspiration  which  came  to 


Pennsylvania  State  College 


11 


hundreds  of  the  graduates  of  this  college  in  its  chem¬ 
ical  laboratories  under  the  genius  of  Doctor  Pond. 

There  is  not  time  today  to  recite  the  history  of  this 
college,  but  I  cannot  resist  mention  of  the  appeal  of 
President  Pugh  to  the  Legislature  not  to  divide  the 
Morrill  fund  among  several  institutions.  It  is  one 
of  the  ablest  documents  in  the  early  history  of 
the  land-grant  colleges.  He  was  a  giant  of  a  man 
that  first  President.  Teaching  school  and  working  as  a 
blacksmith  to  pay  his  way  to  the  laboratories  of  Eu¬ 
rope,  the  Quaker  youth  made  contributions  to  science 
which  are  still  recited  in  the  history  of  chemistry. 
The  course  of  study  he  laid  out  for  this  college  was  a 
half  century  ahead  of  his  time.  The  trials  and  ob¬ 
stacles  he  overcame  in  the  early  years  of  this  college 
almost  surpass  belief.  In  this  day  of  confidence  and 
hope,  it  is  fitting  that  we  pause  a  moment  in  honor  of 
the  memory  of  the  first  President  and  the  first  martyr 
of  The  Pennsylvania  State  College, — Doctor  Evan 
Pugh.  Two  other  names  stand  out  in  the  story  of  its 
hard,  heroic  struggles, — General  James  A.  Beaver, 
the  sturdy  fighter  for  Penn  State  for  nearly  half  a 
century,  and  Doctor  George  W.  Atherton,  President 
for  twenty-four  years,  father  of  the  school  of  engi¬ 
neering,  under  whom  the  college  first  began  to  come 
to  its  own  in  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania. 

a  state  Whether  in  dark  days  or  brighter, 

institution  this  institution  has  held  true  to  its 

charter,  and  has  developed  steadily,  though  some¬ 
times  slowly  and  painfully,  toward  the  hope  of  its 
founders  as  the  public  institution  of  higher  learning 
of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania.  From  the 
first  projection  of  a  Farmers’  High  School  in  the 
meetings  of  the  Pennsylvania  State  Agricultural  So¬ 
ciety,  the  purpose  has  been  kept  steadily  in  mind  to 


12 


Inaugural:  The  Future  of  The 


affect  this  college  to  the  fullest  possible  extent  with 
a  public  character  and  public  duty.  Its  trustees  were 
chosen  by  the  people  through  the  state  and  county 
agricultural  societies.  It  was  directed  to  render  “a 
full  and  detailed  account  of  the  operations  of  the  in¬ 
stitution”  each  year  to  the  Legislature.  Funds 
from  the  public  treasury  completed  the  erection  of 
its  first  building,  and  from  the  first  it  was  expected 
that  the  college  would  be  supported  by  the  state. 
Representatives  of  the  state  government,  never  less 
than  three,  have  served  continuously  in  its  govern¬ 
ing  body.  It  is  now  and  always  has  been  solely  de¬ 
pendent  upon  state  and  federal  funds  for  its  main¬ 
tenance.  It  has  always  been  free  and  no  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  student  has  ever  paid  one  penny  of  tuition  into 
its  treasury. 

Its  genius  and  spirit  are  that  of  the  great  state  in¬ 
stitutions  of  the  West,  with  whom  it  has  shared  the 
benefits  and  obligations  of  the  Morrill  Act.  Like 
them  it  regards  the  whole  territory  of  the  Common¬ 
wealth  as  its  campus  and  its  field  of  service,  and  to¬ 
day  its  representatives  are  in  sixty-two  counties  of 
the  state,  co-operating  with  the  Federal  and  State 
Departments  of  Agriculture  and  carrying  directly 
to  farms  and  homes  the  latest  knowledge  of  agricul¬ 
tural  experiment  and  research.  In  shops  and  fac¬ 
tories  also,  and  in  the  mines  of  both  the  eastern  and 
western  sections  teachers  from  this  college  are  bring¬ 
ing  the  light  of  science,  so  far  as  resources  permit,  to 
the  great  industrial  population. 


The  State  College 
Should  Become 
the  State  Univer¬ 
sity 


President  Atherton  looked  forward 
to  the  time  when  the  college  should 
still  further  broaden  its  function  and 


change  its  name  accordingly.  When  Governor  Pat- 
tison  opened  the  engineering  building  in  1893,  he 


Pennsylvania  State  College 


13 


said,  “May  agencies  arise  when  a  public  system  of 
education  in  Pennsylvania  shall  extend  from  the 
primary  through  the  graded  school  to  the  universi¬ 
ty.”  When  he  finished,  Doctor  Atherton  said,  “I 
want  to  add  that  this  shall  be  the  university.”  The 
time  has  now  come,  after  the  twelve  years  of  notable 
advance  under  the  leadership  of  Doctor  Sparks, 
when  the  ambition  of  Doctor  Atherton  should  be 
realized  and  The  Pennsylvania  State  College  should 
frankly  assume  the  name  and  function  which  its  pres¬ 
ent  strength  and  service  justify,  and  become  in  name 
as  it  is  now  in  fact  The  Pennsylvania  State  Univer¬ 
sity. 

We  have  now  a  state  university  in  all  but  name. 
Our  school  of  agriculture  is  recognized  by  experts 
as  one  of  the  strongest  in  the  nation.  In  point  of  at¬ 
tendance  of  agricultural  students,  it  is  the  third  larg¬ 
est  in  the  country.  Its  services  to  agricultural  science 
during  the  past  fifty  years  have  been  among  the 
most  notable.  Wherever,  the  world  over,  is  intelli¬ 
gent  interest  in  nutrition  and  the  conservation  of 
food,  the  name  of  Armsby  is  held  in  honor.  No  col¬ 
lege  of  agriculture  in  the  United  States  has  so  good 
a  farm  close  at  hand  for  operation  and  experiment 
as  we  have  in  our  two  thousand  acres.  On  these  farms 
are  the  oldest  fertilizer  experiments  in  America,  re¬ 
ferred  to  in  all  discussions  of  preservation  of  soil  fer¬ 
tility.  Here  are  the  largest  experimental  orchards 
in  the  United  States  devoted  to  the  study  of  methods 
of  orchard  culture.  This  school  of  agriculture  is  the 
only  cause  you  can  name  why  Pennsylvania  in  ten 
years  has  advanced  from  thirteenth  to  seventh  place 
in  the  value  of  agricultural  products. 

Another  worthy  integral  element  of  a  state  univer¬ 
sity  already  existing  here  is  our  school  of  engineering. 


14 


INAUGURAL:  The  Future  of  The 


We  have  30  per  cent  more  students  in  engineering 
than  we  have  in  agriculture.  A  year  or  two  ago  ours 
was  sixth  engineering  school  in  the  country  in  point 
of  attendance,  and  had  facilities  been  furnished  us 
for  well  qualified  students  who  were  eager  to  enter — 
Pennsylvania  students — we  should  today  rank  third. 
In  ten  years  the  engineering  school  has  increased  its 
attendance  from  675  to  1100.  More  than  900  engi¬ 
neering  graduates  are  today  serving  the  industries  of 
Pennsylvania.  Of  the  2580  graduates  in  engineer¬ 
ing,  in  civil,  mechanical,  electrical,  and  other  courses, 
60  per  cent  are  in  engineering  occupations  today,  65 
percent  of  them  in  Pennsylvania.  In  this  mighty  in¬ 
dustrial  state,  the  first  in  the  nation,  nothing  but  lack 
of  resources  stands  in  the  way  of  development  of  an 
engineering  college  second  to  none.  The  personnel 
and  the  spirit  on  which  to  build  it  are  already  here. 

Our  school  of  mines,  though  the  youngest  of  our 
schools,  enrolls  a  larger  number  of  Pennsylvania 
mining  students  than  any  other  mining  school  in  the 
state.  The  buildings  are  not  creditable  to  the  first 
mining  and  metallurgical  state  in  the  country,  but 
the  foundation  has  been  laid  for  a  college  of  mines 
worthy  of  Pennsylvania. 

The  schools  of  liberal  arts  and  of  natural  science, 
into  which  years  of  devoted  and  skillful  labor  have 
gone,  the  departments  of  home  economics,  military 
science,  and  physical  education  are  here  as  the  con¬ 
stituent  elements  of  a  university.  The  large  depart¬ 
ment  of  education  presses  for  recognition  as  a  separ¬ 
ate  school.  Last  year  we  enrolled  114  candidates  for 
advanced  degrees,  in  addition  to  graduate  students 
at  the  summer  session.  In  at  least  a  score  of  depart¬ 
ments  of  instruction,  we  have  today  sufficient  facili¬ 
ties  for  study  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy. 
The  college  has  been  too  modest  in  its  published 


IS 


Pennsylvania  State  College 

statements  concerning  its  graduate  work,  and  many 
an  institution  with  a  pretentious  graduate  school  has 
fewer  advantages  and  is  doing  less  work  of  graduate 
grade  than  we  now  do  on  our  campus. 

No  Obstacle  There  is  nothing  in  our  constitution 
in  Constitution  or  organization  to  prevent  the  addi¬ 
tion  of  other  technical  or  professional  schools,  by 
creation  here  or  by  affiliation  with  existing  schools 
elsewhere,  as  the  needs  and  welfare  of  the  Common¬ 
wealth  may  demand.  Here  are  the  foundation  and 
the  structure  carefully  and  painfully  built  up  for 
nearly  three-quarters  of  a  century  for  a  state  univer¬ 
sity  worthy  of  the  imperial  Commonwealth  of  Penn¬ 
sylvania.  The  background  is  here,  the  subtle  but 
most  substantial  spirit  and  genius  out  of  which  alone 
a  university  of  the  state  and  for  the  state  can  be  erect¬ 
ed.  There  is  no  example  in  the  history  of  American 
higher  education  of  a  large  and  successful  state  uni¬ 
versity  built  upon  a  private  foundation.  In  this 
learned  company  I  make  that  statement  without  fear 
of  challenge.  It  has  not  been  done  because  it  cannot 
be  done.  You  cannot  inject  the  quality  and  genius 
of  the  American  state  university  into  an  old  estab¬ 
lished  institution  fathered  by  private  motive  and  de¬ 
veloped  under  private  control. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  land-grant  college  has 
grown  into,  or  has  been  attached  to,  a  state  university 
in  no  less  than  twenty-three  of  the  commonwealths 
of  this  nation.  In  the  list  are  such  great  institutions 
as  the  Universities  of  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  Illinois, 
California,  and  Ohio.  No  less  than  nine  have  made 
precisely  the  change  of  name  which  I  am  suggesting 
for  Pennsylvania.  Only  a  few  months  ago  both 
Maryland  and  Delaware  took  this  step,  and  the  end 
is  not  yet.  The  more  far-sighted  knew  at  the  begin- 


16 


INAUGURAL:  The  Future  of  The 


ning  that  something  far  greater  than  schools  of  agri¬ 
culture  alone  would  be  the  outcome  of  the  Morrill 
Act.  Abraham  Lincoln  said  to  Jonathan  B.  Turner, 
“If  I  am  elected,  I  will  sign  your  bill  for  state  uni¬ 
versities.”  The  advance  from  land-grant  college  to 
state  university  is  a  perfectly  natural  and  normal  one. 
There  is  involved  no  change  in  ideal  or  purpose,  but 
only  an  expansion  of  educational  program  and  an  en¬ 
largement  of  the  field  of  service. 

The  state  Owns  This  college  is  now  ready  for  such 
and  Controls  the  expansion.  Only  one  other  institu- 
Coiiege  tion  in  the  United  States  of  so  many 

students  and  none  of  so  extensive  courses  of  study  still 
bears  the  name  of  college.  No  radical  changes  are 
involved,  and  there  are  no  insurmountable  obstacles, 
either  legal  or  sentimental.  If  there  is  anything  in 
the  constitution  or  structure  of  The  Pennsylvania 
State  College  which  in  the  judgment  of  the  people 
should  be  altered  in  order  that  it  may  become  The 
Pennsylvania  State  University,  the  institution  so  far 
as  lies  within  its  power  stands  ready  today  to  make 
the  necessary  change.  The  equitable  title  to  its 
$4,000,000  plant  is  already  in  the  Commonwealth. 
This  campus  and  these  buildings  should  be  regarded 
as  truly  the  property  of  the  state  as  the  State  House 
at  Harrisburg,  and  if  any  declaration  or  other  instru¬ 
ment  from  our  trustees  is  necessary  to  that  end,  it  will 
be  forthcoming  on  demand.  Some  of  our  trustees  are 
now  elected  by  agricultural  and  engineering  socie¬ 
ties,  a  method  which  when  it  was  devised  was  be¬ 
lieved  to  insure  public  control.  The  present  Board 
is  able,  harmonious,  representative,  and  efficient,  but 
if  any  change  in  method  of  selection  is  necessary  or 
desirable  to  assure  the  people  of  this  Commonwealth 
that  this  institution  is  absolutely  under  their  control 


Pennsylvania  State  College 


17 


and  sensitively  responsive  to  their  wishes,  that  change 
will  be  made.  We  are  not  only  willing  to  make  it, 
but  I  am  sure  I  speak  for  every  Trustee  and  for  every 
alumnus  when  I  say  that  we  are  eager  to  make  it. 
The  moment  we  discover  that  such  change  is  desired 
or  thought  wise  by  the  people  of  the  state,  we  could 
not  be  true  to  our  past,  to  the  memory  of  Pugh  and 
Atherton  and  Beaver,  if  we  did  not  stand  ready  to  do 
anything  in  our  power  to  assert  and  maintain  the  full 
and  absolute  ownership  and  control  of  this  institution 
by  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania. 

From  Thaddeus  APril  U-  1835>  in  the  P0USe  of 
Stevens  to  State  Representatives  at  Harrisburg, 

University  Thaddeus  Stevens  of  Lancaster,  an 

emigrant  from  my  own  green  hills  of  Vermont, 
against  a  hostile  House,  instructed  by  their  constitu¬ 
ents  to  the  contrary,  by  the  sheer  might  of  his  elo¬ 
quence  and  his  heart  of  love  for  the  humble  and 
the  poor,  burned  into  the  conscience  of  Pennsylvania 
the  principle  that  the  common  schools  should  be  free 
to  the  children  of  all  the  people.  In  course  of  time, 
by  natural  development,  the  free  public  schools  have 
been  extended  to  include  the  secondary  grade,  and 
today  there  is  a  path  to  the  free  public  high  school 
for  every  child  of  the  Commonwealth.  From  out 
its  poverty  and  meagre  resources,  in  days  of  misun¬ 
derstanding  and  cruel  criticism,  at  one  period  with¬ 
out  a  penny  from  the  treasury  of  the  Commonwealth 
for  nearly  a  score  of  years,  its  buildings  mortgaged, 
efficient  leadership  nowhere  to  be  found,  this  college 
of  the  humble  beginnings  has  kept  open  through  all 
these  dark  years  one  door  through  which  the  youth  of 
this  state  could  enter  freely  to  secure  an  education  of 
the  highest  grade  as  provided  by  the  state.  Over 
and  over  again  the  door  has  been  too  narrow,  and 


18 


INAUGURAL:  The  Future  of  The 


we  have  been  obliged  to  say  to  many  that  there  is 
no  room.  For  many  years  the  privileges  provided 
were  too  meagre  to  be  worthy  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
even  yet  in  many  respects  they  are  not  worthy.  But 
now  we  offer  all  we  have,  and  all  our  strength  and 
devotion,  that  Pennsylvania  may  complete  her  sys¬ 
tem  of  free  public  education  by  a  university  where 
the  humblest  may  have  like  privileges  with  the  most 
favored  in  the  best  that  American  education  can  pro¬ 
vide. 

state  University  In  this  day  there  can  be  no  argu- 
Cpwn  °£  ment  that  no  state  educational  system 
System  is  complete  without  a  free  state  uni¬ 

versity  as  its  apex  and  crown.  That  does  not  mean 
that  the  state  university  is  to  dominate  and  control 
the  lower  schools,  still  less  other  institutions  of  high¬ 
er  learning.  It  means  merely  that  free  public  edu¬ 
cation  shall  not  stop  with  the  high  school,  but  go  on 
to  college  grade.  It  means  that  it  is  the  conviction 
and  will  of  the  people  of  the  state  that  the  higher 
reaches  of  education,  education  unto  leadership  and 
for  the  professions  of  which  the  public  has  need  and 
which  lead  to  the  most  ample  rewards,  shall  not  be 
the  privilege  of  the  few  but  the  right  of  all.  Not 
until  public  education  is  crowned  by  a  free  public 
university  is  democracy  sincere  in  declaring  that  all 
men  are  created  equal  and  that  the  doors  to  the  high¬ 
est  service  and  the  noblest  personal  attainment  are 
open  to  the  humblest  who  can  show  himself  worthy 
to  enter  them.  It  is  too  late  to  dispute  the  doctrine 
that  all  the  resources  of  a  state  are  liable  for  the 
education  of  every  last  child  in  the  state.  It  is  too 
late  in  free,  democratic  America  to  question  the  obli¬ 
gation  of  the  state  to  summon  its  ambitious  youth 
to  free  and  equal  opportunity  in  the  most  ample 
learning  America  can  afford.  We  are  dealing  to- 


Pennsylvania  State  College 


19 


day  with  no  trifle  of  the  name  of  an  institution.  A 
state  university  means  a  call  to  the  heights  to  every 
last  child  in  the  Commonwealth,  and  an  increase  of 
self-respect  and  dignity  in  every  citizen.  It  means 
a  nobler  and  worthier  estimate  of  manhood  in  every 
home  in  the  Commonwealth.  It  means  that  we  shall 
measure  man  in  Pennsylvania,  not  by  what  he  may 
learn  as  a  child,  but  by  what  he  may  acquire  when 
the  treasures  of  learning  and  science  are  open  to 
him  in  his  full  manhood  power. 


A  University 
Worthy  of  Penn 
sylvania 


If  Pennsylvania  is  to  have  a  uni¬ 
versity  acknowledged  as  an  integral 
part  of  its  public  school  system,  it 
must  be  worthy  of  Pennsylvania, — worthy  of  the 
youth  of  this  Commonwealth,  worthy  of  this  state  of 
imperial  domain,  blessed  in  natural  wealth  above  all 
others  in  the  nation,  whose  coal  is  of  greater  value 
than  all  the  gold  of  the  earth,  whose  iron  and  steel 
is  the  greatest  single  industry  in  the  world,  which 
has  a  greater  diversity  and  a  larger  amount  of  in¬ 
dustry  than  any  other  commonwealth  and  at  the 
same  time  is  exceeded  by  only  one  in  its  rural  popu¬ 
lation.  If  Pennsylvania  is  to  have  a  state  university, 
it  must  be  worthy  of  the  most  noble  history  and 
traditions  of  this  mighty  Commonwealth, — of  Wil¬ 
liam  Penn  and  Benjamin  Franklin  and  Albert  Gal¬ 
latin  and  Thaddeus  Stevens,  and  of  the  sacred  mem¬ 
ories  of  Independence  Hall  and  Valley  Forge  and 
Gettysburg.  We  must  either  do  a  big  thing  or 
nothing  at  all.  It  would  be  most  ignoble  to  project 
as  the  cap-stone  of  education  in  Pennsylvania  an  in¬ 
stitution  narrow  in  scope,  meagre  in  facilities,  or 
cheap  and  tawdry  in  buildings  and  equipment.  The 
dignity  and  the  honor  of  a  magnificent  Common¬ 
wealth  are  at  stake,  and  the  only  worthy  ambition 


20 


Inaugural:  The  Future  of  The 


and  goal  is  a  university  second  to  none  in  this  nation 
in  the  excellence  and  beauty  of  its  plant,  in  the  cali¬ 
bre  and  scholarship  of  its  faculty,  and  in  the  nobility 
and  worth  of  its  ideals  of  service. 

If  Pennsylvania  is  to  extend  public  education  to 
include  the  higher  grades,  it  should  be  in  one  state 
university,  not  more.  In  no  state  which  supports 
two  state  institutions  is  there  general  satisfaction  with 
the  results.  In  every  state  which  has  both  a  State 
University  and  an  agricultural  college  there  are 
fewer  agricultural  students  in  proportion  to  the 
population  than  in  states  in  which  the  agricultural 
college  is  an  integral  part  of  the  state  university. 
The  counsel  of  experts  is  unanimous  and  positive 
against  dividing  the  effort  of  the  state  in  higher 
education.  Later  experience  has  only  given  added 
force  to  the  observation  made  by  President  Prichett 
a  few  years  ago,  that  “the  greatest  weaknesses  in  the 
maintenance  of  good  standards  by  the  state  universi¬ 
ties  have  been  exhibited  in  those  states  where  the 
state  institutions  of  higher  learning  are  conducted 
in  two  or  more  colleges  instead  of  being  united  into 
a  single  institution.  In  such  cases  it  has  almost  in¬ 
evitably  happened  that  an  unwise  competition  has 
sprung  up,  demoralizing  alike  to  the  institutions 
themselves  and  to  the  public  school  system.  Gener¬ 
ally,  the  rivalry  appears  in  the  form  of  a  competi¬ 
tion  between  the  state  university  and  the  state  school 
of  agriculture  and  mechanic  arts.  Duplicate  courses 
are  established  at  the  two  institutions,  and  low  stand¬ 
ards  of  admission,  and  log-rolling  with  the  legisla¬ 
ture,  are  the  natural  outcome.” 

Ten  Thousand  There  are  now  nearly  9,000,000 
Students  people  in  this  state,  and  if  the  same 

proportion  were  to  seek  higher  education  as  are  now 
in  attendance  in  universities  and  colleges  in  the  en- 


Pennsylvania  State  College 


21 


tire  country,  there  would  be  50,000  college  students 
in  this  state.  Certainly  the  youth  of  Pennsylvania 
are  not  less  ambitious  for  higher  education  than  the 
average  of  the  nation.  It  may  be  fair  to  assume  that 
four-fifths  of  this  burden  will  be  undertaken  by  the 
private  and  denominational  universities  and  colleges. 
It  is  reasonable  to  expect  the  Commonwealth  in  its 
own  institution  to  make  provision  for  one  out  of  five, 
especially  when  it  is  considered  that  there  are  fields 
such  as  agriculture  which  on  the  ground  of  ex¬ 
pense  or  for  other  reasons  private  institutions  will 
not  care  to  enter.  Not  in  ambition  for  numbers  but 
in  consideration  of  its  obligation  to  the  Common¬ 
wealth  this  institution  should  anticipate  expansion 
to  10,000  resident  students.  Already  that  number 
has  been  reached  by  institutions  in  other  states  which 
Pennsylvania  should  strive  to  emulate. 

The  Trustees  have  taken  the  initial  steps  in  the 
preparation  of  a  building  program  for  an  institution 
of  that  size.  On  this  most  beautiful  site,  at  the  exact 
center  of  the  state,  with  ample  spaces  for  develop¬ 
ment,  and  with  the  worthy  buildings  already  in  place, 
it  should  be  possible  to  construct  an  educational  plant 
of  dignified  and  harmonious  structures,  which  should 
fitly  express  their  civic  character,  and  which  the 
citizens  of  the  Commonwealth  would  be  proud  to 
own,  an  object  lesson  of  the  place  that  education 
holds  in  the  hearts  of  the  people,  and  emblematic 
of  the  strength  and  wealth  of  the  keystone  state  and 
of  the  intelligence  and  character  of  its  people. 
Educational  If  we  are  to  have  a  university  worthy 

Program  0f  Pennsylvania,  we  must  preserve 

every  portion  of  the  magnificent  educational  pro¬ 
gram  already  in  force,  evolved  with  rare  foresight 
by  the  leaders  of  the  past  and  preserved  through 
trying  years  by  tremendous  sacrifice  and  labor.  We 


22 


INAUGURAL:  The  Future  of  The 


must  strengthen  every  school  we  already  have,  the 
largest  as  well  as  the  smallest,  playing  no  favorites 
and  asking  only  where  is  the  greatest  need  and  where 
is  the  greatest  possibility  of  service  to  the  state.  For 
the  sake  of  every  school  we  should  add  a  graduate 
school  just  as  soon  as  it  can  be  adequately  supported. 
To  meet  the  needs  of  the  state,  we  should  have  a 
School  of  Education,  a  large  and  worthy  school  of 
teacher  training.  Over  2,000  persons  without  col¬ 
lege  degrees  are  now  teaching  in  the  public  high 
schools  of  Pennsylvania.  By  recent  statute  after  1927 
the  qualifications  for  secondary  school  teachers  in  the 
public  schools  of  the  state  will  be  notably  advanced. 
This  institution  should  do  its  part  in  offering  studies 
for  college  credit  in  summer  and  extension  courses 
for  those  now  teaching  who  desire  to  meet  the  con¬ 
ditions,  as  well  as  in  training  those  who  will  be 
needed  for  new  positions. 

If  we  are  to  do  this,  we  must  increase  largely  our 
accommodations  for  women  students.  Pennsylvania 
has  hardly  been  fair  to  her  daughters  in  public 
higher  education.  I  should  like  to  see  on  this  cam¬ 
pus  a  Home  Economics  laboratory  the  equal  of  any 
in  the  country,  and  a  group  of  homes  for  women 
enabling  us  to  multiply  several  times  the  number 
now  in  attendance. 

The  heart  of  any  college  or  university  is  its  school 
of  liberal  arts.  The  student  of  engineering,  mining, 
or  agriculture,  the  man  who  will  go  directly  into 
business,  not  less  than  the  man  who  intends  the  study 
of  the  law  or  medicine,  needs  strong  inspiring  courses 
in  literature,  history,  mathematics,  economics,  phi¬ 
losophy,  and  political  science.  In  the  technical  col¬ 
lege  or  university  these  departments  need  to  be  all 
the  stronger  for  the  reason  that  students  have  less 
time  for  such  studies.  The  manhood  and  the  culture 


23 


Pennsylvania  State  College 

needful  for  the  educated  man  of  any  calling  cannot 
be  secured  through  a  few  elementary  courses  in  lan¬ 
guage  and  mathematics  in  the  Freshman  year.  I 
would  find  place  in  the  Junior  and  Senior  years  of 
every  technical  course  for  required  studies  in  polit¬ 
ical  science  and  economics,  conducted  by  the  most 
enthusiastic  and  inspiring  teachers  who  can  be  found. 
Nine-tenths  of  a  man’s  reading  after  he  leaves  col¬ 
lege  is  on  subjects  related  to  these  departments,  and 
it  is  essential  that  he  be  master  of  the  fundamentals. 
A  state  institution  should  above  all  things  educate 
good  citizens  and  the  studies  fundamental  to  good 
citizenship  should  be  strongly  represented  in  its 
curriculum. 

We  cannot  do  justice  by  liberal  arts  until  we  make 
large  additions  to  our  Library.  The  building,  the 
provision  for  new  books,  and  that  for  administration 
are  all  inadequate  for  the  institution  we  have  today. 

Research  If  we  are  to  become  the  State  Uni¬ 

versity  of  Pennsylvania,  we  must  largely  increase  our 
facilities  for  research.  The  citizens  of  the  state  are 
familiar  with  the  great  benefits  that  have  been  de¬ 
rived  from  the  researches  conducted  by  our  School 
of  Agriculture.  They  have  added  millions  to  the 
agricultural  wealth  of  the  state,  and  have  brought 
new  life  and  enthusiasm  to  agricultural  pursuits. 
Those  investigations  have  been  supported  largely  by 
the  federal  appropriations  through  the  Hatch  and 
Adams  funds.  The  state  has  added  almost  nothing 
to  them.  The  generous  provision  of  the  national 
government  for  agricultural  extension  is  bringing 
to  the  college  more  questions  than  we  can  answer. 
There  is  not  too  much  extension,  but  there  is  not 
enough  investigation  going  on  to  support  the  ex¬ 
tension  service. 


24- 


Inaugural:  The  Future  of  The 


Most  inviting  fields  of  investigation  are  open,  not 
only  in  agriculture,  but  also  in  every  school  and  de¬ 
partment  of  the  college.  Problems  press  for  solu¬ 
tion  in  engineering,  in  mining,  in  chemical  industry, 
the  study  of  which  would  infuse  new  life  into  the 
laboratories,  and  the  results  of  which  would  be  of 
untold  value  to  the  people  of  the  Commonwealth. 
Pennsylvania  cannot  always  retain  its  pre-eminence 
in  industry  by  virtue  of  its  natural  resources.  The 
work  of  the  scientist  and  the  expert  is  necessary  to 
the  continuance  of  our  prosperity,  and  money  spent 
in  their  encouragement  will  return  many  fold. 

Extension  Through  its  agricultural  extension 

staff  of  127  workers  there  flows  out  from  this  campus 
to  every  corner  of  the  state  a  steady  stream  of  in¬ 
fluence  toward  better  agricultural  methods,  and 
toward  worthier  and  ampler  life  in  the  farm  homes. 
These  missionaries  of  agricultural  science  teach  the 
value  of  the  silo,  and  how  to  spray  potatoes,  and  how 
to  increase  the  profits  of  the  dairy.  But  they  teach 
much  more.  They  are  making  farmers  talk  chemis¬ 
try  and  imbuing  the  masses  of  the  people  with  re¬ 
spect  for  the  man  of  science,  the  man  who  knows. 
As  an  institution  of  higher  learning,  we  glory  in  this 
work.  A  few  years  ago  at  the  inauguration  of  a 
New  England  president,  it  was  said:  “Now  a  new 
American  ideal  has  arisen  in  the  state  universities  of 
the  West,  then  as  now  inchoate,  heterogeneous, 
sprawling,  but  showing  the  world  for  the  first  time 
in  history  the  spectacle  of  an  entire  people  striving 
to  give  itself  a  higher  education,  proclaiming  that 
the  studies  which  in  other  lands  and  other  centuries 
were  the  luxuries  of  the  few  have  now  become  the 
necessities  of  the  entire  democracy.”  Gladly  we 
place  ourselves  at  the  side  of  the  western  state  uni- 


25 


Pennsylvania  State  College 

versities  as  thus  defined.  It  is  in  our  heart,  so  far 
as  we  are  able,  to  teach  all  knowledge  to  all  men 
within  the  field  assigned  to  us.  It  is  our  creed  that 
the  studies  which  in  other  lands  and  other  centuries 
were  the  luxuries  of  the  few  are  now  the  necessities 
of  an  entire  democracy.  And  in  pursuance  of  this 
conviction,  we  are  eager  to  “sprawl”  if  that  be  the 
proper  term  for  the  carrying  of  educational  advan¬ 
tages  to  the  homes  of  the  people.  If  so  privileged, 
we  will  “sprawl”  to  the  remotest  valley  in  this  Com¬ 
monwealth  with  the  science  which  Armsby  and  Bab¬ 
cock  and  Dorset  have  illuminated  in  the  laboratories 
of  agricultural  colleges.  We  will  “sprawl”  into  the 
shops  and  factories,  into  the  homes  of  miners  and 
coke-burners  and  steel  workers,  and  teach  them  the 
facts  of  science  underlying  their  work  and  more  ef¬ 
ficient  methods  in  their  labor  and  ways  of  accident 
prevention. 

There  has  been  only  a  beginning  of  adult  educa¬ 
tion  in  America,  and  the  greatest  future  of  the  public 
institution  of  higher  learning  in  this  country  is  in 
educational  extension. 

Can  Pennsylvania  ^  have  tr^e^  t0  shoW  that  the  field 
Afford  a  state  and  work  of  a  state  university  of  the 
University?  western  type  are  natural  to  this  in¬ 

stitution,  and  to  outline  some  of  the  developments 
necessary  on  the  basis  of  our  present  plant  and  pro¬ 
gram.  I  am  aware  that  the  undertaking  is  a  large 
one,  even  though  the  development  of  The  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  State  College  for  sixty-five  years  has  been 
toward  an  institution  of  this  type.  The  rural  pop¬ 
ulation  of  Pennsylvania  is  larger  than  that  of  the 
six  New  England  states  with  their  six  agricultural 
colleges.  The  Pennsylvania  State  University  would 
have  a  larger  total  population  to  serve  than  the  three 


26 


Inaugural:  The  Future  of  The 


great  state  universities  of  Michigan,  Minnesota  and 
Wisconsin  combined  or  than  all  the  universities  of 
Canada. 

But  can  Pennsylvania  afford  a  state  university? 
I  answer  that  no  state  in  the  union  can  better  afford 
it.  Her  aggregate  wealth  is  more  than  fifteen  bil¬ 
lions  of  dollars.  The  value  of  her  farms  alone  ex¬ 
ceeds  a  billion  and  a  quarter.  She  pays  one-sixth 
of  the  income  taxes  of  the  United  States.  Her 
manufactures  exceed  two  and  one-half  billions  a  year, 
more  than  one-tenth  of  the  country.  Taxes  in  Penn¬ 
sylvania  are  lower  than  in  any  other  state  in  the 
North.  The  state  could  build  the  largest  university 
in  the  Union,  and  provide  for  its  maintenance  ac¬ 
cordingly,  and  her  taxation  rate  for  purposes  of  the 
Commonwealth  would  still  be  lower  than  that  of 
any  other  state  north  of  Mason  and  Dixon’s  line. 

The  state  could  build  and  maintain  her  own  un¬ 
iversity  without  a  dollar  of  additional  expenditure 
with  the  money  now  bestowed  as  subsidies  to  private 
charitable  and  educational  institutions.  It  is  a  wrong 
principle  to  grant  public  funds  for  private  work. 
If  the  work  is  public,  the  public  should  support  it 
entirely  and  control  it  absolutely.  If  the  work  is 
private,  or  if  it  belongs  properly  to  a  lesser  political 
entity  than  the  Commonwealth,  the  largess  of  the 
state  only  serves  to  remove  responsibility  from  where 
it  belongs.  The  state  will  never  do  its  duty  by  its 
poor  and  unfortunate  by  the  hit-or-miss  method  of 
subsidy  wherever  private  initiative  happens  to  be 
active.  That  method  is  insufficient  and  unscientific, 
and  its  continuance  for  many  years  has  probably  done 
more  than  anything  else  to  injure  the  fair  name  of 
Pennsylvania  among  philanthropists  and  social  work¬ 
ers  in  other  commonwealths. 

In  addition  to  the  forcible  objections  usually 


Pennsylvania  State  College 


27 


brought  against  this  practice,  I  would  urge  that  the 
practice  of  subsidizing  private  institutions  is  uneco¬ 
nomical  for  the  state.  It  robs  the  public  of  the  earned 
capital  increment  of  its  appropriations.  When  pub¬ 
lic  money  is  appropriated  to  a  private  institution, 
there  is  a  certain  temporary  return  to  the  public  in 
the  service  rendered.  If  it  is  an  educational  insti¬ 
tution,  the  return  is  in  students  educated,  teachers 
trained,  or  similar  work.  But  there  is  a  permanent 
value  from  the  public  gift,  and  a  very  great  one, 
which  does  not  accrue  to  the  public,  but  which 
inures  to  the  private  corporation  controlling  the  in¬ 
stitution.  That  is  the  increment  of  strength  in  gen¬ 
eral  good-will,  increase  of  scientific  reputation, 
alumni  loyalty,  and  other  intangible  assets  of  great 
value,  which  are  lost  to  the  state  whenever  either 
party  dissolves  the  partnership.  What  the  state 
fosters  and  builds,  that  should  be  the  property  of 
the  state.  Think  of  what  states  like  Michigan,  Illi¬ 
nois,  and  Minnesota  have  today  in  their  magnificent 
state  universities.  They  own  them  for  any  public 
educational  service  which  the  will  of  the  people 
demands.  They  cannot  lose  what  they  have  put  into 
them  at  the  whim  of  a  corporation  or  an  alumni  as¬ 
sociation.  How  much  poorer  would  those  states  be 
if  they  had  spent  equal  money  in  helping  the  work 
of  a  half-dozen  private  colleges! 

But  instead  of  asking  whether  Pennsylvania  can 
afford  a  state  university,  we  should  ask  rather,  Can 
the  great  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania  afford  not 
to  have  one?  Can  we  afford  to  say  to  the  youth  of 
this  state,  if  you  had  been  born  in  Ohio  or  Wis¬ 
consin,  you  might  have  attended  a  magnificent  uni¬ 
versity  provided  by  the  state.  If  you  were  a  citizen 
of  Utah  or  Arizona,  your  own  state  university  doors 
would  swing  open  to  you.  But  you  had  the  mis- 


28 


Inaugural:  The  Future  of  The 


fortune  to  be  born  in  Pennsylvania,  and  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  was  too  poor  to  follow  the  example  of  twenty- 
three  other  states  and  develop  its  land-grant  college 
into  a  real  state  university.  I  cannot  believe  that  it 
is  the  will  of  the  people  of  this  great  Commonwealth 
that  such  answer  should  be  returned  to  its  ambitious 
youth. 

Relation  to  other  We  ask  today  the  good-will  of  all 
institutions  sister  institutions  and  the  co-opera¬ 

tion  of  all  citizens  of  this  state  in  the  expansion  of 
this  college  into  The  Pennsylvania  State  University. 
In  this  step  we  intend  no  hostility  or  injury  to  any 
other  institution  of  the  state,  small  or  large.  There 
is  a  field  for  each,  ample  and  inviting.  The  large 
university  under  private  control,  free  to  fix  its  own 
policies,  free  from  political  pressure,  is  in  enviable 
position  by  virtue  of  its  perfect  liberty  in  the  selec¬ 
tion  of  special  fields  of  learning  and  restarch  and 
its  freedom  to  maintain  its  traditions  and  its  historic 
genius  unmindful  of  popular  demands.  The  small 
college  also,  particularly  the  college  which  focuses 
the  interest  of  a  religious  denomination  in  higher 
education,  has  conferred  inestimable  benefits  upon 
this  nation,  and  in  thorough  scholarship  in  the  funda¬ 
mental  branches  of  higher  education  and  in  peculiar 
opportunity  for  the  development  of  character  in  its 
students  the  small  college  will  always  have  its  own 
attractive  field  and  will  render  service  of  greatest 
value.  This  should  be  a  day  of  co-operation  in 
education  as  in  business.  The  prosperity  of  one  in¬ 
stitution  is  the  stimulus  of  all.  An  adequate  state 
university  at  this  central  point  of  the  state  would  be 
a  benefit  to  every  other  institution  in  the  state. 

Appeal  to  I  appeal  to  the  alumni  of  Penn  State 

Alumni  to  show  their  faith  in  its  future  by 

gifts  to  the  college  proportionate  to  their  hopes. 


29 


Pennsylvania  State  College 

The  recent  legislature  was  asked  for  $2,885,000  for 
buildings  urgently  needed,  a  sum  very  much  too 
small  considering  that  we  are  ten  years  behind  in¬ 
stitutions  in  other  states,  but  we  received  only  $250,- 
000.  To  accept  that  result  is  to  stand  practically 
still  for  two  years.  A  state  institution  ought  to  be 
bult  by  the  state  and  we  must  not  relax  our  efforts 
until  Pennsylvania  has  placed  on  this  campus  an 
educational  plant  adequate  to  the  work  we  have  to 
do.  But  an  emergency  confronts  us.  We  are  turn¬ 
ing  away  applicants  for  admission,  citizens  of  Penn¬ 
sylvania,  a  thousand  a  year.  We  are  checking  the 
growth  of  departments  of  investigation  and  instruc¬ 
tion  which  are  of  incalculable  value  to  the  industries 
of  Pennsylvania.  That  must  not  be.  This  college 
must  go  forward  and  go  forward  now.  We  cannot 
wait.  Delay  means  denial  of  opportunity  to  boys 
who  will  never  have  another  chance.  We  must  go 
to  the  next  legislature  with  a  broad  popular  move¬ 
ment  behind  us  which  will  force  aside  all  obstacles 
and  challenge  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  to  place 
this  college  where  it  shoud  be  among  the  state  uni¬ 
versities  of  America.  Nothing  would  better  evi¬ 
dence  such  a  movement  than  the  erection  on  this 
campus  of  buildings  sorely  needed,  such  as  residences 
for  both  men  and  women,  a  hospital,  a  gymnasium 
and  recreation  building,  which  in  a  state  institution 
can  appropriately  be  built  from  private  gifts. 
Alumni  of  a  state  institution  are  not  released  from 
obligation  to  their  alma  mater,  and  a  great  demo¬ 
cratic  public  service  institution  like  ours  may  well 
appeal  to  generous  citizens  as  an  appropriate  object 
of  benevolence.  How  can  one  better  express  his 
patriotism  than  by  gifts  to  the  institution  of  his  state 
where  the  most  ambitious  youth  have  free  and  equal 
opportunity  in  education  unto  the  highest  service? 


30 


Inaugural:  The  Future  of  The 


I  propose  therefore  an  endeavor  to  secure  $2,000,000 
as  an  Emergency  Building  Fund  to  be  obtained  from 
alumni  and  friends  of  the  college,  and  to  be  used 
for  such  buildings  as  are  proper  to  be  built  from 
private  funds  in  a  state  institution.  The  times  are 
unfavorable,  but  the  needs  are  great,  and  we  must 
meet  them  now.  Nothing  will  put  the  might  and 
conviction  of  the  people  behind  us  like  a  successful 
effort  to  help  ourselves,  and  the  harder  the  times, 
the  greater  the  honor  and  reward  of  success. 

Difficulties  and  I  am  not  unaware  that  the  program 
Encouragements  j  have  sketched  is  exceedingly  large 
and  difficult.  The  building  of  an  adequate  and 
worthy  state  university  in  the  Commonwealth  of 
Pennsylvania  is  a  tremendous  undertaking.  My 
friends,  I  cannot  build  such  a  university.  The  Trus¬ 
tees  and  Faculty  and  Alumni  of  this  state  college 
have  not  the  power  and  ability  to  build  it.  If  we 
could,  it  would  not  be  The  Pennsylvana  State  Uni¬ 
versity.  This  university  must  be  built  upon  the  con¬ 
viction  and  by  the  will  of  the  nine  million  people 
of  this  Commonwealth.  If  it  be  their  desire  and 
judgment  that  on  the  foundation  laid  by  a  handful 
of  earnest  farmers  sixty-seven  years  ago  an  institu¬ 
tion  of  the  people  and  for  the  people  shall  be  erected 
to  crown  the  free  public  education  of  the  Common¬ 
wealth,  nothing  can  prevent  it.  Whether  such  be 
the  will  of  the  people  of  the  state,  I  do  not  know. 
But  these  things  are  clear.  There  has  been  a  steadily 
deepening  conviction  on  the  part  of  the  people  of 
Pennsylvania  for  many  years  that  the  state  should 
complete  its  system  of  public  education  by  a  uni¬ 
versity  owned  by  the  Commonwealth  and  entirely 
under  public  control.  Plans  for  the  erection  of  such 
a  university  by  other  means  than  the  expansion  of 


Pennsylvania  State  College 


31 


this  college  already  owned  by  the  state  have  not  met 
with  favor  and  have  been  abandoned.  The  normal 
schools  of  the  state  have  ceased  to  be  private  enter¬ 
prises,  and  are  united  under  the  control  of  the  Com¬ 
monwealth  for  the  training  of  elementary  teachers. 
The  State  Department  of  Public  Instruction  has  been 
greatly  strengthened,  efficiently  organized,  and  with 
remarkable  unanimity  the  people  have  rallied  to  its 
generous  support.  An  educational  program  adequate 
to  the  needs  of  the  state  in  all  except  higher  educa¬ 
tion  has  been  undertaken  with  enthusiasm.  The 
Supreme  Court  has  rendered  a  decision  precluding 
further  state  appropriations  to  sectarian  institutions. 
This  state  college,  founded  on  the  model  which  has 
developed  state  universities  in  twenty-three  other 
commonwealths,  protected  of  Almighty  God  through 
a  half  century  of  penury  and  adversity  such  as  al¬ 
most  no  other  American  college  has  endured,  has 
advanced  steadily,  and  in  recent  years  rapidly,  in 
attendance  and  influence,  and  in  the  good-will  and 
confidence  of  the  people  of  the  state.  Everywhere 
it  is  spoken  of  as  the  people’s  college.  It  has  students 
in  numbers  from  every  county  in  Pennsylvania,  far 
and  away  the  most  representative  student  attendance 
of  any  college  in  the  state.  The  youth  of  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  believe  in  it,  and  besiege  us  with  pleas  for 
admission.  The  farmers  believe  in  it,  the  business 
men  believe  in  it,  the  people  generally  believe  in  it. 
Its  courses  of  study  are  more  complete  than  those  of 
many  state  universities  now  existing.  Its  educational 
program  requires  but  few  additions  to  make  it  one 
of  the  best  rounded  state  universities  in  the  nation. 
It  needs  only  the  change  of  one  word  in  its  name  to 
take  its  place  with  the  most  noble  product  of  Amer¬ 
ican  democracy,  the  American  state  universities. 

I  have  taken  today  the  only  position  as  to  the  future 


32 


Inaugural:  The  Future  of  The 


of  this  institution  which  can  be  taken  consistently 
with  the  spirit  of  its  founders  and  the  steady  advance 
of  the  college  to  its  present  power  and  influence.  The 
guiding  of  Providence  and  the  steady  push  of  events, 
in  other  institutions  not  less  than  our  own,  have  been 
toward  the  establishment  of  Pennsylvania’s  Univer¬ 
sity  here.  Humble  before  the  opportunity  and  re¬ 
sponsibility,  we  tender  all  we  have  and  our  utmost 
effort  in  the  future  to  the  good  people  of  this  state, 
and  loyally  await  their  will. 


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